Comparison

Google Keep vs Obsidian

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Google Keep

Capture, edit, and share notes and lists across all your devices. Organize with labels and colors, and set time or location-based reminders. Collaborate with others in real-time for shared tasks.

Highlights
  • Capture notes, lists, photos, and audio
  • Organize with labels and colors
  • Set time and location-based reminders
  • Collaborate on notes and lists
  • Transcribe voice memos
  • Extract text from images
Currently charting
Read full description

• Capture, edit, share, and collaborate on your notes on any device, anywhere. • Add notes, lists, photos, and audio to Keep. • Organize your notes with labels and colors. • Set and forget. Get reminded about a note at the right time or place. • Record a voice memo and have it automatically transcribed. • Grab the text from an image to help you quickly find that note again through search. WHEN AND WHERE YOU NEED IT Need to remember to pick up some groceries? Set a location-based reminder to pull up your grocery list right when you get to the store. Need to finish a to-do? Set a time-based reminder to make sure you never miss a thing. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS Next time you go to the store, share your shopping list on Keep and watch as items get checked off in real time. No need for text messages back and forth. Get things done together, faster. FIND WHAT YOU NEED, FAST Quickly filter and search for notes by color and other attributes like lists with the label “To-dos”, audio notes with reminders or just see shared notes. Find what you're looking for even faster, and let Keep do the remembering for you. ALWAYS WITHIN REACH Keep works on your phone, tablet and computer. Everything you add to Keep syncs across your devices so your important stuff is always with you. Try Google Keep on the web at http://keep.google.com and find it in the Chrome Web Store at http://g.co/keepinchrome.

About

Obsidian

Organize your thoughts and ideas with a powerful knowledge base that utilizes local Markdown files. This app acts as your personal second brain, accessible on your mobile device for seamless note-taking and idea connection.

Highlights
  • Local Markdown file storage
  • Customizable toolbar
  • Graph view for connections
  • Community plugins
  • Themes
  • iCloud sync
Features
Read full description

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. It is a second brain, for you, forever. Now available on the go for iOS! Features include: - Customizable toolbar - Pull down quick actions - Graph view - Community plugins - Themes - Sidebar pinning for tablet - iCloud vaults

Screenshots

Google Keep4 screens
Obsidian4 screens

Verdict

The call

Google Keep and Obsidian both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 62% of Obsidian's written reviews are positive against 42% of Google Keep's. Obsidian also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). Google Keep's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (29K vs 2.7K). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Google Keep against 4.5 for Obsidian. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Keep has 29K ratings behind it against 2.7K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 42% of Google Keep's written reviews are positive against 62% of Obsidian's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Google Keep ships an update weekly, Obsidian every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Google Keep versus Obsidian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoogle KeepObsidian
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (29K ratings) — better4.5 (2.7K ratings)
Positive reviews42.4% of reviews62.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings29K — better2.7K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#76 — better#131
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size210 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoogleDynalist Inc.

Customer experience

Google Keep

All ratings28,987 ratings
Positive89.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews1,226 reviews
Positive42.4%
Neutral16.6%
Negative40.9%

Obsidian

All ratings2,674 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews1,303 reviews
Positive62.1%
Neutral11.9%
Negative26.0%

User reviews

Google Keep

From 29K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Lean and efficient
  • 👍 Minimalistic and easy to use
  • 🤝 Good for collaboration
  • 💡 Useful for note-taking and lists

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
  • 🔄 Sync issues and data loss
  • 🕰️ Slow performance and lag
  • 📱 Limited functionality on mobile
  • 🔒 Lack of security features

Obsidian

From 2.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 👍 Customizable and flexible
  • 🔒 Secure and private
  • 💡 Innovative note-taking approach
  • 🚀 Smooth mobile experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues and unreliable iCloud integration
  • 🔋 Slow startup and performance issues on mobile
  • 👎 Steep learning curve for new users
  • 👎 Limited sorting and organization options
  • 👎 Lack of WYSIWYG editing on mobile

Bugs and requests

Google Keep

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly duplicating or disappearing
  • Checkboxes not working as expected
  • Keyboard issues and text input problems
  • Refresh failures and connectivity problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for widgets
  • Improve text formatting options
  • Introduce folder/category organization
  • Enable password protection for notes
  • Enhance search and sorting capabilities

Obsidian

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Sync issues leading to data loss
  • Freezing and crashing on mobile devices
  • Editing bugs and text input issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved sorting and organization options
  • WYSIWYG editing on mobile
  • Better integration with other cloud storage services
  • More intuitive onboarding process for new users
  • Native mobile widgets and share sheet integration

In-app purchases

None

Google Keep

No in-app purchases

None

Obsidian

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Google Keep free?
Google Keep is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Obsidian free?
Obsidian is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Google Keep or Obsidian?
Google Keep is rated higher. Google Keep averages 4.6 out of 5 from 29K ratings, while Obsidian averages 4.5 from 2.7K ratings.
Do Google Keep or Obsidian have ads?
Neither Google Keep nor Obsidian shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Google Keep or Obsidian?
Google Keep ships an update weekly, and Obsidian every 3 weeks. Most recently, Google Keep was updated on September 25, 2026 and Obsidian on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Google Keep or Obsidian?
Google Keep currently peaks at #76 in the App Store charts, and Obsidian at #131. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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